Off we go!

Book Choice No.45

This early drawing by Ingres is based on an engraving by Rene Boyvin (c.1525-c.1589)

Ingres, like many other artists, developed his drawing skills by copying earlier artists.

From the number of erotic drawings in Guegan's book, Ingres was clearly also drawn to the subject matter!

Below are two similar drawings by Ingres and the original engravings by Giulio Bonasone (c.1510 - after 1576) that inspired them

Ingres

Bonasone

Whatever the nature of these drawings, the skills developed are clearly evident in Ingres' masterworks that followed, not least his celebrated Venus Anadyomene (c.1808) - a detail from which is shown below

Ingres' Venus

Like his early drawings, the later paintings by Ingres are erotically charged - not least the famous Turkish Bath (1859-63), a detail of which is shown below

Ingres - Turkish Bath (detail)

I have long been struck by the similarity in drawing style between Picasso and Ingres

According to John Richardson (Picasso's biographer) Picasso first encountered this painter at the great Ingres Retrospective in Paris in 1905

The earliest influence of Ingres is evident - according to Richardson - in Picasso's Woman with a fan (1905)

Picasso

The inspiration for this exquisite little drawing is an oil painting by Ingres dated 1819

The best way to see the direct influence of Ingres on Picasso is to compare two self-portraits.

The first is by Picasso, dated 1917-19

And here is the "inspiration" - a self-portrait by Ingres dated nearly one hundred years earlier!